How to really make money from eBay Thailand

I know over a dozen people now who make a full time income from selling on eBay in Thailand I too have supported myself selling things I bought in Thailand and selling them to people overseas through eBay. I even wrote a whole chapter about it in the book How to make money in Thailand. The most common thing I've noticed with all the successful eBay sellers in Thailand is that they all test their products and they all have only new items for sale with great photographs.

The thing about eBay is you don't need a million items though that approach does work it requires a lot of capital. What you want to find are those identical items that can sell 20-100 times a month at a markup of 4 to 1 but a better ration is more like 8-1. Basically an item you can buy for 300 baht then sell it on eBay for 8 times as much or 2100 baht that's roughly $69.95 at today's rate of 30 baht and do that 100 times a month on the one product. Have 10 products like this and you have your eBay empire made.

A ten dollar item like the one you picked up is still just a $10 item it's your job to make people want to pay the $69.95 amount and the way to do that is to get a professionally designed graphic and photographs of your product and make it look like the amount are asking for. People shop on eBay for bargains sure but they are also shopping for dreams make it seem like your product is the best of it's kind and come across as a professional. People are always willing to buy quality when you sell something of quality and the markup is great you begin to make more money for doing less work.

Testing your eBay products

With eBay you can have multiple accounts each account can still be linked to the same PayPal account if you choose but it's the eBay ID and the products in your account that are the reason you need more than one account. Having more than one eBay ID gives you the ability to test products without them being shown in your actual store giving away cheap editions in your store first can lose you sales of profit items as people would rather wait till you put out another test product.

With your test account put up your test item and give free shipping and only .99 cents. At this cheap price it will get the most views, getting the most views gives you more of a sample of people to gauge demand for the item. If you sold the product at this for more than 5 times the amount you paid for the item it's more than likely that you have found a great product that can be resold on Ebay another 100 times at full cost over the next month - year.

Why most people fail with selling on eBay in Thailand

Lots of people try to do the whole eBay thing but they don't manage to make a profit because they didn't stick at it. You have to continually be losing money testing products especially in the beginning stages until you find the products that make you the most money. Some products just don't sell you couldn't even give the stuff away but you can't expect it too. People typically give up trying to sell on eBay after they have tried to sell maybe $100 worth of products. But if you narrowed down to a specific niche which the How to make money in Thailand book clearly tells you you can get going testing with only a few hundred dollars.

When something does sell good some people will wait till the auction to end, do do it, if something is selling that good go right now and buy 50 of that same item at a discounted wholesale rate and start selling them don't wait around when a good opportunity comes you lose too much time. Some people fail to act on the figures, when an item sells good you can be sure there are a line of other people waiting to buy one for themselves so go out and get a discount for your wholesale purchase add in the professional touch.

32 Responses to How to really make money from eBay Thailand

Hi Chris
I was in Chiang Mai over Christmas and the new year, a really great place. I was on my own and hung around the Three Kings and Soi 7 Moonmung Rd I will extend the area to the river this time. I am going again this September and wondered is there an Immigration Office there? Chiang Mai (to extend visa) and is buying wholesale possible? And last, I have found out about extending visas and a visa run to Laos but do you know anything about rebooking air tickets. I think that once there ie Bangkok you can cancel the return part and then re-book at a later date at a cost of $100 or so. I think that your site really helps newbies like me even though \ i am in my 60s. Any information welcome.
Thanks and keep up the great work.
Have a great time in Pattaya.
Eddie

A lot of questions there Eddie if you come to Chiang Mai book a room at the Mini Cost Guest House and the people there will be able to help you with everything. No problems on extending your ticket though I would think your better of going to Burma for your border run it takes a whole day to go there and come back from Chiang Mai and it’s about 400 baht total if you go in a mini but again you can book this at the guest house.

I’m really not that sure about Ebay Business.
From what i’ve heard, you can easily get busted by thai guys from the postal office who can obviously understand what your business is.
And since most of us don’t have the right to work here because of the visa we are getting.
Or am i missing a point somewhere ?

People at the post office have nothing to do with immigration, they could care less unless you’ve pissed someone off before. Besides it’s extremely unlikely you’ll cop anything but a fine. Guys were running a timeshare scam illegally in phuket never got deported just a fine. Nothing to worry about.

Chris I have a question re- ebay.
Do you know of places to go to source products from Thailand to sell on ebay ? like Jewellery clothes etc:

To be honest I don’t care if it made any money or not, what I need is a reason to get to Thailand on a regular basis by myself if your hearing me 🙂
I would have to go and see supplies etc: so the story goes, which I may do for a day or two max and party the rest of the time.
I look forward to your response.
cheers
Mr Hoy

Hi Chris
Managed to get a copy so far had a rough look I’ll go though it on weekend in detail.
Just a quick ? I didn’t notice ” sourcing products section ” you mention about going to Bangkok.
What about something like drop shipping how do I find those places or contacts ?
Like I mentioned earlier I will run it from Oz just need more reasons to go to Thailand alone, ( to meet with supplies etc: well that’s my excuse :))
I’m not that interested in bring a heap of clothes for fat ass women back to oz with me which I’ll have to pay excess baggage on then more postage again to send them out from Oz.
The drop shipping idea means I can just send it from Thailand once arranged with supplier.
Any ideas please

Go up to other foreigners with a sob story of how your money was stolen and you cant afford to eat, but are willing to part with your ( fake) Rolex watch for 5000 baht. This has happened to me several times. The first time i gave the guy 30 baht to eat from a vendor.
Funny thing was i think he was actually an Indian guy who had trained himself to speak in a strong American accent.

Hi Chris. Could you please tell me how you send your ebay items internationally? How do you work out shipping costs? I am not looking to make this a business, would just like to clean out the closets! Thanks:)

As i’m travelling all over Thailand it’s not practical to open a store. But I still have some killer ideas that would make it big on eBay. I have 4 different eBay accounts 2 with over 10,000 feedbacks. Will probably reactivate when i get settled more.

I am curious, if you don’t mind me asking, what do you do for work other than the eBay business? I am asking as I permanently live here with my wife and I am stuck teaching English to children on the weekends. As I have not yet graduated from my University back in the U.S. the possibility of finding a decent paying job (other than teaching) is pretty slim. I have a good amount of sales experience but the only sales jobs I find are strictly commissioned based. Any ideas you may have are greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I don’t do ebay anymore, not because it wasn’t profitable but because you need to be on top of emails and send things promptly I like to sleep in and party all night, didn’t really fit into my lifestyle. Now I own close to 1000 different websites that make money by promoting affiliates, this took 4 years to build up. Learned a lot wouldn’t take me that long now but certainly helps if you have money to invest in the beginning. If you’re really interested in learning more shoot me an email and we can talk on Skype or something.

Hi there.
Your article is great.
I wonder how to run a Ebay (or Other international business) without Work Permit.
Should I register Ebay business? or don’t need to do?
I already run international business in Here. (not Thailand)
I’ve registered my business (in South Korea).

In order to get the cheapest shipping rates out of Thailand you’ll need to open an account with DHL using a registered Thai Business. Typically you can get your manufacturer to do this but if you’re using multiple manufacturers then this is more difficult. Try find someone with a registered business to set it up for you however this will take some trust as payments for shipping are months in arrears. good luck!